World finfish aquaculture production has been progressively rising, and now accounts for almost 47 percent of total fish production. On a global scale, tilapia are the second most cultivated finfish group, with Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) accounting for eight percent of total finfish produced in 2016. The species is particularly popular due to its fast‐growing rates, disease resistance, robustness and ability to adapt to different farming systems.
In aquaculture, feed accounts for 50 percent of total production cost. A major challenge is to find new strategies for precision diet formulation that minimise feed cost, while increasing sustainability. Feed cost is largely determined by dietary protein sources and inclusion levels.
In the past few years, advances in the knowledge of tilapia nutrition, and commercial availability of supplemental amino acids have allowed feed producers to be flexible in utilising plant sources to formulate balanced diets. In addition to enabling industry to implement zero fishmeal diets, supplemental amino acids open windows to reduce the dietary protein levels while balancing the diet for amino acid levels.
In the swine and poultry industries, the low protein concept with the use of supplemental amino acids has been a common practice for a long time. In aquaculture, this concept is not as common, and protein quantity is still used as an indicator of diet quality. However, diet quality is rather determined by the protein quality and not quantity.
This requires additional attention on quantitative and qualitative amino acid levels. Nile tilapia’s response to dietary protein levels has been widely studied and is dependent on fish size/age, dietary amino acid profile and digestibility.
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The Aquaculturists
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